Tag: Principles of Marketing

The Samridhi Fund is an approx. ₹430 crore social venture capital fund. SIDBI has envisaged the creation of the Samridhi Fund to provide capital to social enterprises which can deliver both financial and social returns, in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha , Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and West Bengal.

Scheme Benefits & Highlights

• Investments will typically be in growth stage companies undertaking expansions which already have a sound business model or innovative business model or products and technologies which have the potential of achieving considerable scale.
• Samridhi can provide growth capital to enterprises through a variety of funding instruments, viz., Equity and Convertible Instruments.
• Samridhi typically provides capital in the range of INR 5-25 crore. In exceptional cases, Samridhi may invest amounts outside this range, especially when strong developmental impact can be generated.
• Target sectors includes, but are not be limited to:

1. Water & Sanitation
2. Affordable Healthcare
3. Agriculture & Allied services
4. Clean Energy
5. Financial Inclusion (Including MFI’s)
6. Education
7. Skill Building, etc.

Eligibility

The conditions necessary for getting funded are as follow:

• Be economically viable
• Provide access to markets for the poor
• Be socially relevant and impact the poor as customers, producers or employees
• Increase the flow of capital to the above mentioned states
• Focus on Environment, Social and Governance matters.

The enterprises must have plans to expand operations in any or all of the following states Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

• Samridhi will not invest in any of the following businesses or activities:
• Illegal or banned activities, including child labour.
• Businesses dealing with hazardous chemicals, asbestos, pesticides and wastes; ozone depleting substances; and endangered or protected wildlife or wildlife products.
• Arms and ammunition
• Companies which have been proven to be involved in fraud and corruption.

Seed Fund

Easy availability of capital is essential for entrepreneurs at the early stages of growth of an enterprise.

Funding from angel investors and venture capital firms becomes available to startups only after the proof of concept has been provided. Similarly, banks provide loans only to asset-backed applicants.

It is essential to provide seed funding to startups with an innovative idea to conduct proof of concept trials.

Objective Of the Scheme

Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialization.

This would enable these startups to graduate to a level where they will be able to raise investments from angel investors or venture capitalists or seek loans from commercial banks or financial institutions.

Eligibility:

For Startups

A startup, recognized by DPIIT, incorporated not more than 2 years ago at the time of application.

The startup must have a business idea to develop a product or a service with a market fit, viable commercialization, and scope of scaling.

For Incubator

The incubator must be a legal entity:

– A society registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, or

– A Trust registered under the Indian Trusts Act 1882, or

– A Private Limited company registered under the Companies Act 1956 or the Companies Act 2013, or

– A statutory body created through an Act of the legislature

The incubator should be operational for at least two years on the date of application to the scheme

The incubator must have facilities to seat at least 25 individuals

The incubator must have at least 5 startups undergoing incubation physically on the date of application

The incubator must have a full-time Chief Executive Officer, experienced in business development and entrepreneurship, supported by a capable team responsible for mentoring startups in testing and validating ideas, as well as in finance, legal, and human resources functions

The incubator should not be disbursing seed fund to incubatees using funding from any third-party private entity

The incubator must have been assisted by the Central/State Government(s)

In case the incubator has not been assisted by the Central or State Government(s):

– The incubator must be operational for at least three years

– Must have at least 10 separate startups undergoing incubation in the incubator physically on the date of application

– Must present audited annual reports for the last 2 years

Any additional criteria as may be decided by the Experts Advisory Committee (EAC)

ASPIRE

A Scheme for Promotion of Innovation, Rural Industries and Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE) aids to set up a network of technology centres and to set up incubation centres to accelerate entrepreneurship and also to promote startups for innovation in agro-industry. ASPIRE provides financial support to set up Livelihood Business Incubators (LBI) or Technology Business Incubator (TBI).

Objectives

The main objectives of the scheme are to:

• Create new jobs and reduce unemployment
• Promote entrepreneurship culture in India
• Grassroots economic development at the district level
• Facilitate innovative business solution for unmet social needs
• Promote innovation to further strengthen the competitiveness of MSME sector.

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is a science and technology organisation headed by Omkar Rai. It was established in 1991 by the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology with the objective of encouraging, promoting and boosting the export of software from India.

Domain centric centre of excellence is established in association with blue-chip companies and academic institutions. A Blockchain CoE is set-up in STPI incubation centre in Gurugram in year 2020.

• IoT OpenLab at Bengaluru
• Electropreneur Park at Bhubaneswar
• VARCoE at Bhubaneswar
• FabLab at Bhubaneswar
• National Data Repository at Bhubaneswar
• FinBlue at Chennai
• NEURON at Mohali
• MOTION at Pune
• IMAGE at Hyderabad
• Apiary at Gurugram
• MedTech CoE at Lucknow
• IoT in Agriculture CoE at Guwahati
• Animation CoE at Shillong
• Emerging Technologies; AR/VR CoE at Imphal

Electropreneur Park

STPI has established a joint venture to set up an ‘Electropreneur Park’ with the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA). This is aimed at supporting 50 startups working on electronics product designing and development over the next five years. The initiative is a subset of the government’s ‘Make in India’ mission, aligned with entrepreneurial and innovation focus. Currently, there are 2 Electropreneur parks in New Delhi & Bhubaneswar.

Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS)

Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) is one of the flagship incubation scheme by STPI To build innovative technology products and solutions in an indigenous manner by offering comprehensive support & services to budding start-up ecosystem in India. STPI envisioned setting up 21 Centres of Excellence in emerging technology across India to provide proper handholding to the startup ecosystem for building indigenous products and IPR creation.

STPI: India BPO Promotion Scheme

STPI envisaged under Digital India program launched the India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS). this scheme seek to incentivize establishment of 48,300 seats in respect of BPO/ITES operations across India. STPI is the nodal agency of this scheme under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Director General STPI Omkar Rai has announced to launch 48,000 such seats across the country, with a target employment of 72,450 in the sector. The government provides financial support of up to Rs 1 lakh per seat under two plans; India BPO Promotion Scheme and North East BPO Promotion Scheme. The Scheme is distributed among each State in proportion of State’s population with an outlay of Rs. 493 Crore. 39,390 employment reported as of April 2021 under the India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS).

Visakhapatnam has created 10,000 jobs under the India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS), Andhra Pradesh state got 13,792 seat, out of 45,792 seats in India.

STPI Role

STP units exported software and information technology worth Rs. 215264 crore in FY 2010–11. The state with the largest export contribution was Karnataka followed by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Telangana. STPI has a presence in many major cities of India including the cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Kanpur, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, Warangal, Gandhinagar, Kakinada, Lucknow, Pune, Surat, Tirupati, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

Besides regulating the STP scheme, STPI centers provide a variety of services including high-speed data communication, incubation facilities, consultancy, network monitoring, data centers and data hosting. STPI provides physical hosting for the National Internet Exchange of India.

The tax benefits under the Income Tax Act Section 10A applicable to STP units has expired since March 2011. While the Government has chosen not to extend the Sec 10A benefits against the demand by the IT units, most of the STP registered SME units will be affected, and now will have to pay income tax on profits earned from exports.

A new incentive scheme for IT and ITES companies is under discussion. It will help dispersal of IT industry in smaller cities and also support STPI-registered units which have not come under SEZs as well as other units which are not covered under any incentive scheme. This incentive scheme is seen as an alternate scheme to compensate the STPI units, but the same would be restricted to those units located in tier II and III cities.

Venture Capital Assistance is financial support in the form of an interest free loan provided by SFAC to qualifying projects to meet shortfall in the capital requirement for implementation of the project.

The Small Farmer’s Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) has launched the scheme named Venture Capital Assistance (VCA) Scheme for the welfare of farmer-entrepreneur to develop their agri-business. This scheme intends to assist in the form of the term loan to the qualifying projects of the farmers to meet their capital requirements for the implementation of the project.

Th primary aim of the scheme is to target Agri-business entrepreneurs through financial participation. It targets following people:

• Farmers
• Self Help Groups
• Producer Groups
• Companies
• Agriculture Exporters
• Units in agriexport zones
• Agriculture graduates either individually or collectively to start a agribusiness projects.
• Partnerships or Proprietory Firms.

List of Qualifying Projects:

(i) Project should be in agriculture or allied sector or related to agricultural services. Poultry and dairy projects will also be covered under the Scheme.

(ii) Project should provide assured market to farmers/producer groups.

(iii) Project should encourage farmers to diversify into high value crops, to increase farm incomes.

(iv) Project should be accepted by Notified Financial Institution for grant of term loan.

Objectives of the Scheme

• To help farmers, producer groups, and agriculture graduates to participate in the value chain through the Project Development Facility.
• To support the entrepreneurs in setting up an agribusiness venture which is approved by the banks, financial institutions regulated by the RBI.
• To strengthen the previous stages of state and central SFAC.
• To promote training and visits of agri-entrepreneurs in setting up agribusiness projects.
• To assist the backward linkages of agribusiness projects with producers.
• To provide assured markets to the producers to increase rural income and employment.

• Start-ups will be reimbursed a fixed amount for the seats occupied by them at co-working spaces/ incubators/ accelerators listed by the SPC. The benefits at the co-working spaces can be availed maximum for a period of two years per startup, at incubators can be availed maximum for a period of 1 year per startup and at accelerators will be for a period of 3 months per startup.
• The startup will be reimbursed 50% per seat cost offered by the co-working spaces listed by the SPC or a maximum benefit of INR 3000 per seat and can claim this benefit for a maximum cap of 8 seats only.
• The startup will be reimbursed 50% per seat cost offered by the incubators listed by the SPC or a maximum benefit of INR 5000 per seat and can claim this benefit for a maximum cap of 8 seats only.
• The startup will be reimbursed 50% per seat cost offered by accelerators listed by the SPC or a maximum benefit of INR 6000 per seat and can claim this benefit for a maximum cap of 8 seats only.
• The reimbursement in this scheme can be claimed on any of the plans offered by the co- working spaces/ incubators/ accelerators listed by the SPC.
• A total of 100 seats in co-working, 50 seats each in incubator and accelerator will be subsidized under this scheme each year.
• For certain deserving startups determined through the internal guidelines of the SPC, the SPC may choose to reimburse up to 100% of the amount paid to co-working/incubator/accelerator by the startups.
• Under no circumstance shall the benefits under this scheme be considered an entitlement. The SPC shall reserve the sole right to accept or reject applications.

Eligibility Criteria:

Start-ups certified by the Start-up Promotion Cell (SPC) are eligible for the benefits of subsidized seats offered by the co-working spaces/ incubators/ accelerators listed by the SPC.

All the startups have to pay digitally to co-working spaces/ incubators/ accelerators listed by the SPC. In case digital payments are not possible then it shall be up to the decision of SPC as per its guidelines to admit the expenditure.

The bank accounts of the Director/s of the start-ups should be linked to Aadhaar.

Link: https://www.startup.goa.gov.in/StartupIncentives

Startups are known to switch between accelerators as they naturally gravitate towards or start to seek value. Amid such a dynamic landscape what must an accelerator do to differentiate itself in the market? For starters, a truly successful accelerator must define a clear USP for itself and align with others to ensure true value for the ecosystem. Designing a sustainable program that helps a startup in every situation of its journey along with providing access to a robust set of expert mentors are vital to the success of an incubator or accelerator.

Business incubation has been identified as a means of meeting a variety of economic and socioeconomic policy needs, which may include job creation, fostering a community’s entrepreneurial climate, technology commercialization, diversifying local economies, building or accelerating growth of local industry clusters, business creation and retention, encouraging minority entrepreneurship, identifying potential spin-in or spin-out business opportunities, or community revitalization.

• They offer marketing and PR assistance to new companies to set up a brand name.
• Help a start-up to start basic operations and financial management.
• Business incubators have a strong network of influential people, and therefore, they can connect the business with the same to grow.
• Incubators also provide assistance and resources for conducting market research.
• They also help the start-ups in sorting their accounting books.
• Incubators bring credibility to the company. This helps the company to get loans and credit facilities from financial institutions.
• Often the start-ups do not know how to create an effective presentation to impress angel investors, venture capital and other investors. Business incubators, with plenty of experience behind them, help these companies with the presentations as well.
• Business incubators also act as mentors and advisors and assist the start-ups in all sorts of business-related issues.

Business incubators are essentially organizations that increase the survival rates of innovative startups and support the entrepreneurial process. Incubators earlier used to focus mainly on the IT segment but now they work with companies from diverse industries and orientations. This post discusses the concept of business incubators and business incubation, the role of business incubators, types of incubation services, and the phases involved in business incubation development.

Role of Business Incubators

• Business incubators help with the basics of business.
• They provide networking activities.
• They guide startups/ventures on how to compete with established industry players.
• They help startups save on operating costs.
• Incubators provide marketing assistance.
• Incubators help with market research.
• They provide high-speed internet access.
• Incubators help with accounting/financial management.
• They provide access to bank loans, loan funds, and guarantee programs.
• Incubators bring credibility to the company. This helps the company receive loans and credit facilities from financial institutions.
• They create long-lasting jobs for new graduates, experienced mid-career personnel, and veteran executives.
• Incubators help with presentation skills.
• They have a strong network of influential people who can connect startups/ventures with established businesses and individuals.
• They provide access to higher education resources.
• Incubators can tap into their networks of experienced entrepreneurs and retired executives.
• They link companies with strategic partners.
• They provide access to angel investors and venture capital.
• Business incubators organize comprehensive business training programs.
• They act as advisory boards and mentors.
• They help in management team identification.
• They offer marketing and PR assistance to new companies for brand establishment.
• They help with business etiquettes.
• They provide technology commercialization assistance.
• They help with regulatory compliance.
• They provide intellectual property management.
• They create jobs for mid-career personnel and veteran executives which benefits communities and drives economic growth.

Capital, Product and Marketing are the three key pillars through which a startup can become a sustainable company in the long run. Many startups end up focusing only on one or, at most, two of these pillars, which negatively affects them sooner or later.

Self-funded: This is the money you put into the company through your own savings or money borrowed from your friends/family. You should rely on it only to build a small prototype (or MVP) of your idea. Show off your MVP to a few target customers/investors to get their initial feedback. This will help you understand whether it makes sense to continue pursuing the idea or change it completely.

Investor funds: This can range from initial seed funding from an HNI to VC funding during Series A, B or C rounds. This money usually comes in only when your startup has already started earning its revenues from an existing set of customers. In some cases, however, investors will give you money if you have successfully exited startups earlier.

Customers: This is the profit you generate by selling your products or services to your customers. This is the most important source of capital for your startup, and you should spend a good amount of time building up this source. If you have a B2C product, then remember that it will require larger scale to bring in sufficient money initially. So, either continue looking for an investor or tie up with other businesses for bulk deals. You need to be cognisant of the fact that even in the B2B world, the money will flow in only three to six months after the delivery of your work.

A startup incubator is a collaborative program designed to help new startups succeed. Incubators help entrepreneurs solve some of the problems commonly associated with running a startup by providing workspace, seed funding, mentoring, and training (see list below for a a more extensive list of common incubator services). The sole purpose of a startup incubator is to help entrepreneurs grow their business.

Services provided by business incubators:

• Help with business basics
• Networking opportunities
• Marketing assistance
• High-speed Internet access
• Accounting/financial management assistance
• Access to bank loans, loan funds and guarantee programs
• Help with presentation skills
• Connections to higher education resources
• Connections to strategic partners
• Access to angel investors or venture capital
• Comprehensive business training programs
• Advisory boards and mentors
• Management team identification
• Help with business etiquette
• Technology commercialization assistance
• Help with regulatory compliance
• Intellectual property management and legal counsel

Design thinking is a term used to represent a set of cognitive, strategic and practical processes by which design concepts (proposals for products, buildings, machines, communications, etc.) are developed. Many of the key concepts and aspects of design thinking have been identified through studies, across different design domains, of design cognition and design activity in both laboratory and natural contexts.

Design thinking is also associated with prescriptions for the innovation of products and services within business and social contexts. Some of these prescriptions have been criticized for oversimplifying the design process and trivializing the role of technical knowledge and skills.

Wicked problems

Design thinking is especially useful when addressing problems which are wickedly difficult, in the sense of being ill-defined or tricky, not malicious. Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber contrasted these with “tame” or “well-defined” cases where the problem is clear and the solution available through applying rules or technical knowledge.

Problem framing

Rather than accept the problem as given, designers explore the given problem and its context and may re-interpret or restructure the given problem in order to reach a particular framing of the problem that suggests a route to a solution.

Solution-focused thinking

In empirical studies of three-dimensional problem solving, Bryan Lawson found architects employed solution-focused cognitive strategies, distinct from the problem-focused strategies of scientists. Nigel Cross suggests that ‘Designers tend to use solution conjectures as the means of developing their understanding of the problem’.

Abductive reasoning

In the creation of new design proposals, designers have to infer possible solutions from the available problem information, their experience, and the use of non-deductive modes of thinking such as the use of analogies. This has been interpreted as a form of Peirce’s abductive reasoning, called innovative abduction.

Co-evolution of problem and solution

In the process of designing, the designer’s attention typically oscillates between their understanding of the problematic context and their ideas for a solution in a process of co-evolution of problem and solution. New solution ideas can lead to a deeper or alternative understanding of the problematic context, which in turn triggers more solution ideas.

Representations and modelling

Conventionally, designers communicate mostly in visual or object languages to translate abstract requirements into concrete objects. These ‘languages’ include traditional sketches and drawings but also extend to computer models and physical prototypes. The use of representations and models is closely associated with features of design thinking such as the generation and exploration of tentative solution concepts, the identification of what needs to be known about the developing concept, and the recognition of emergent features and properties within the representations.

The five phases of Design Thinking:

• Empathise with your users
• Define your users’ needs, their problem, and your insights
• Ideate by challenging assumptions and creating ideas for innovative solutions
• Prototype to start creating solutions
• Test solutions